Police confirm death driver under influence of LSD

Tragic accident: Police pull a Mitsubishi Outlander onto a tow truck on Jl. Arteri in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, on Tuesday night. The vehicle, with license plate No. B1658PJE, hit seven motorcyclists and a Toyota Avanza car on Tuesday, killing four people –

Police have stated that a 23-year-old student was under the influence of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) when his reckless driving killed four victims in South Jakarta on Tuesday evening.

Jakarta Police spokesman Martinus Sitompul said late on Wednesday that Christopher Daniel Sjarief was driving under the influence of LSD, also known as acid. “He tested positive for consuming LSD around three hours before the incident took place.”

LSD, an iconic drug during the 1960s counterculture in the US, can alter a person’s thinking processes and sense of time.

The deadly accident killed four people, including a policeman, and caused serious injuries to four others.

The incident took place on Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda in South Jakarta on Tuesday evening, when Christopher lost control of a Mitsubishi Outlander and crashed into two motorcyclists on the congested street.

Christopher continued to drive at high speed and hit two cars and two further motorcyclists 500 meters from the scene of the initial crash.

Christopher is believed to have panicked, forcing the car into a bus lane. The pile-up caused a long tailback on the highway up to Permata Hijau underpass.

Wisnu Anggoro, 32, was killed in the first incident, while 28-year-old Mustopa and 43-year-old Mahyudi Herman were killed at the second crime scene. First Insp. Batang Oenang later died at Fatmawati Hospital in South Jakarta.

The police charged Christopher under articles 311 and 312 of Law No.22/2009 on traffic and transportation, which carry a maximum sentence of 12 years behind bars.

Martinus said the suspect was the son of a businessman and that before the incident occurred, he was scheduled to return shortly to the US to continue his education.

Jakarta Traffic Police enforcement head Adj. Sr. Comr. Hindarsono, meanwhile, revealed that Christopher was a student in San Francisco.

According to Hindarsono, the SUV that Christopher was driving was owned by the father of a friend of his named Ali, having borrowed the car from Ali’s driver, Ahmad Sandi.

Hindarsono explained that before the incident, the suspect had been with Ali at a coffee shop at Pacific Place shopping mall in South Jakarta. They then left in Ali’s car, driven by Ahmad Sandi.

“However, on the way home, Ali got out and asked Ahmad to drive Christopher to his house in Pondok Indah,” he said.

Not long afterward, Christopher asked Ahmad to let him drive, before forcing him to get out of the car in an underpass.

During Wednesday’s press conference, South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Wahyu Hadiningrat said that the police had yet to look into the possibility that the suspect had committed a further crime by taking over the car by force. He emphasized that the police were still gathering information related to the car crash.

“We have yet to learn why the suspect took the car; we are still focusing on the accident,” Wahyu said, though he confirmed that the police would charge Christopher with any crime there was evidence that he had committed.

The incident adds to the list of deadly car incidents in the capital involving youths.

In September 2013, Ahmad Abdul Qodir Jaelani, son of musician Ahmad Dhani, was involved in a deadly pile-up in his Mitsubishi Lancer that killed six. In February of that year, the son of then coordinating economic minister Hatta Rajasa was found to have been behind the wheel when his car crashed and killed two people on New Year’s Day.

Neither was jailed for the incidents.

– See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/22/police-confirm-death-driver-under-influence-lsd.html#sthash.BvZXxNN2.dpuf